Expense tracking, electronic ordering, invoice presentment, and payment system and method
View Patent ↗Systems and methods for automating an invoice approval process are described herein. Rules are created which are evaluated against a set of attributes. A rules engine is automatically invoked upon receipt of a document in an electronic invoice presentment and payment system. The rules engine determines which rules are applicable to documents received and processed in the system, and applies those applicable rules in a pre-defined sequence.
1. A method of evaluating documents in an electronic invoice presentment and payment system, comprising:
providing, via at least one processor, to a user a first graphical user interface configured to present a field from which to enter a name for a new rule to be created, wherein the first graphical user interface includes a validate field which, when selected, causes the name of the rule to be checked for uniqueness;
generating, via the at least one processor, a second graphical user interface for selecting one or more document related functions and one or more document related attributes associated with each of the one or more document related functions, wherein the second graphical user interface is generated at least by the at least one processor querying a system database to retrieve the one or more document related functions and returning the one or more document related functions as menus with drop-down selectors for the one or more document related attributes associated with each of the one or more document related functions;
creating, via the at least one processor, one or more document processing rules based on: the name entered via the first graphical user interface, the one or more document related functions which were selected via the second graphical interface, and the one or more document related attributes which were selected via the second graphical user interface;
designating a sequence in which the document processing rules are to be executed;
providing, via the at least one processor, a third graphical user interface configured to present a list of the one or more document processing rules to the user, to receive a selection of a subset of the one or more document processing rules from the user, and to associate the selected subset of rules with one or more groups to which the one or more document processing rules applies;
determining, via the at least one processor, which of the one or more document processing rules applies to a received document; and
invoking, via the at least one processor, the rules engine to process the received document according to the sequence of one or more document processing rules.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more document related functions includes one or more of a budget, a purchase order, a receiving report, an acceptance report, or an invoice.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a selected document function of the selected one or more document functions is the invoice, and wherein the one or more attributes comprises an invoice date, the product, and the product quantity.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein a selected document function of the selected one or more document functions is the purchase order, and wherein the one or more attributes comprises the date, the product, the product quantity, and a product price per unit.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein a selected document function of the selected one or more document functions is the receiving report.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein creating one or more document processing rules further comprises: adding a logical condition to one or more of the one or more attributes.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more groups comprises one or more of a vendor, a category of vendors, a product, a group of products, and a budget.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: upon determining that one of the applicable one or more document processing rules has failed, executing a workflow associated with the rule.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the workflow indicates that the document is to be forwarded to an administrator for manual online approval.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the workflow indicates that the document is to be rejected.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the workflow indicates that the document is to be submitted to a dispute resolution process.
12. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to perform automated document approval, the control logic comprising:
a first computer-readable instruction that when executed provides to a user a first graphical user interface configured to present a field from which to enter a name for a new rule to be created, wherein the first graphical user interface includes a validate field which, when selected, causes the name of the rule to be checked for uniqueness;
a second computer-readable instruction that when executed generates a second graphical user interface for selecting one or more document related functions and one or more document related attributes associated with each of the one or more document related functions, wherein the second graphical user interface is generated at least by querying a system database to retrieve the one or more document related functions and returning the one or more document related functions as menus with drop-down selectors for the one or more document related attributes associated with each of the one or more document related functions;
a third computer-readable instruction that when executed creates one or more document processing rules based on: the name entered via the first graphical user interface, the one or more document related functions which were selected via the second graphical user interface, and the one or more document related attributed which were selected via the second graphical user interface;
a fourth computer-readable instruction that when executed designates a sequence in which the document processing rules are to be executed;
a fifth computer-readable instruction that when executed provides a third graphical user interface configured to present a list of the one or more document processing rules to the user, to receive a selection of a subset of the one or more document processing rules from the user, and to associate the selected subset of rules with one or more groups to which the one or more document processing rules applies;
a sixth computer-readable instruction that when executed determines which of the one or more document processing rules applies to a received document; and
a seventh computer-readable instruction that when executed invokes a rules engine to process the received document according to the one or more document processing rules.
13. An electronic invoice presentment and payment system for automatically evaluating documents, comprising at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
provide to a user a first graphical user interface configured to present a field from which to enter a name for a new rule to be created, wherein the first graphical user interface includes a validate field which, when selected, causes the name of the rule to be checked for uniqueness;
generate a second graphical user interface for selecting one or more document related functions and one or more document related attributes associated with each of the one or more document related functions, wherein the second graphical user interface is generated at least by the at least one processor querying a system database to retrieve the one or more document related functions and returning the one or more document related functions as menus with drop-down selectors for the one or more document related attributes associated with each of the one or more document related functions
create one or more document processing rules based on: the name entered via the first graphical user interface, the one or more document related functions which were selected via the second graphical user interface, and the one or more document related attributes which were selected via the second graphical user interface;
designate a sequence in which the document processing rules are to be executed;
provide a third graphical user interface configured to present a list of the one or more document processing rules to the user, to receive a selection of a subset of the one or more document processing rules from the user, and to associate the selected subset of rules with one or more groups to which the one or more document processing rules apply;
determine which of the one or more document processing rules applies to a received document; and
invoke a rules engine to apply document processing rules to a document received by the at least one processor to automate at least one of a document checking, validation and comparison process.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more document processing rules is incorporated into a rule hierarchy.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein invoking, via the at least one processor, the rules engine to process the received document according to the one or more document processing rules comprises processing, via the at least one processor, the received document according to the one or more document processing rules such that a value for the one or more attributes affects the processing of the document.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more attributes comprises a date, a product, and a product quantity, and
wherein invoking, via the at least one processor, the rules engine to process the received document according to the one or more document processing rules comprises processing, via the at least one processor, the received document according to the one or more document processing rules such that a value of each of the date, product and product quantity directs an execution of the one or more document processing rules.